Henry j



H. J. BEHRENS.

Billiard Register.

No. 22,848. Patented Feb. 8, 1858.

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UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

HENRY J. BEHRENS, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y.

BILLIARD-REGISTER.

Specicaton of Letters Patent No. 22,849, dated February 8, 1859.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY J. BEHRENS, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Billiard-Registers; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which Figure l is a side elevation of the case, dial, and pointers, Fig. Q. a side elevation of the machinery inside of the case and Fig. 3 a top plan of the same.

The object and nat-ure of my improvement is to substitute for the balls or technically called points, numbers so arranged and combined with mechanism as to produce an accurate machine for the purpose of keeping the game of billiards, which I name a billiard register.

The complaints and disadvantages, that arise from the use of balls, or so called points are so numerous and well known, that they hardly need comment from me. But I will ment-ion a. few of them. As for instance their height from the table, smallness and similarity, renders it impossible for the player to tell at a glance the number of points he has made from the commencement of the play, then again, their dist-ance from the person, marking the game requires the latter to use a long cue to reach the points, and then he is lable to mark two points as well as one, &c.; hence the importance of my invention.

The construction of my machine, consists of two principal parts. First, of an arrangement for marking any number of made points and secondly of an arrangement for adding up the same and thus showing always the respective standing of the game, which latter process is made self-acting.

In Fig. l a represents the case, made of any size and form that may be requisite, to contain the necessary mechanism shown in Fig. 2. The front of this case is provided with a dial Z), one third of whose periphery is divided into ten parts, and these parts are numbered from O to ten; over these numbers the pointer or hand c is moved by means of the lever (Z and handle e. Lever (Z projects through the case a, which latter has a slot of sunicient length to allow the necessary moving of the said lever therein. The arrangement of these numbers from O to ten with the pointer c and lever (Z is for the purpose of marking any number of made points by the player. For instance, if G points are to be marked the lever Z is moved until the pointer c comes above the number 6, after which both the pointer c and lever Z go back to their former posit-ions to O by means of a spiral spring Figs. 2 and 3, or its equivalent, and are ready again for th next marking. If l5 points are to be marked, l0 and 5 have to be marked. By the backward motion of lever CZ and pointer c from the marked number say 6 to O, the number of points (G) are registered and added to the points that have been marked previously, the result of which is shown by means of a dial y, which is divided into fifty parts, and pointer or hand 7L. This is accomplished by the following' mechanism; the pointers it and c are fastened on the shafts m and n, which run in bearings 7c Figs. 2 and 3, connected with the case at Z. On these two shafts are gearing wheels 0 and 7J working together, whose diameters are in proportion to each other, as 5 to 3; the wheel 0 having 50 teeth and wheel j) 30 teeth. To the wheel y) is fastened a ratchet wheel r, which also has 30 teeth; the wheels y) and r are loose on the shaft 12.

s is a pawl held down by a spring t, to hold the wheels r and j) in the same position, while lever d with pawl u and spring fr is. moved ahead, but will allow the wheels to turn, when lever (Z moves back. Lever (l is fastened on shaft 'n and balanced by weight 10.

Now it is obvious, when pointer c is moved to any number, say ten by means of lever d, the wheels r and j) will turn by the backward motion of said lever to O, one-third of a revolution or ten teeth, and thereby cause the wheel 0 to turn one-fifth of its revolution, which will bring the pointer it ten numbers ahead, thus adding the marked points to the ones previously registered on dial g, the object in view.

It is not necessary that the numbers from 0 to ten on dial b should be made on onethird of the periphery, but if this proportion is altered, the proportion of the diameters of the wheels 0 and j) must be altered likewise. For instance if the said numbers should cover one-half of the periphery, the proportion of the wheels 0 and 77 must be as 5 to 2, or should the said numbers only cover one-fifth of the periphery, then the size of both Wheels must be even.

If through mistake the player should mark one or more points too much, the pointer 71, can be brought back to the desired number by means of the following arrangement. On the shaft m is fastened a ratchet Wheel 0c of 50 teeth connected with the Wheel 0, which is loose on the shaft m, by means of paWl and spring y. eis aI rod held by bearing g and spring z' in such a position that the end of said rod Will act against one tooth of wheel as, by pressing against the knob y' fastened on the other end of the rod z, which projects through the case a thus bringing the pointer or hand h back one point or more as may be required.

There are various Ways, in Which the dial g could be made to answer the same purpose, as for instance the dial g could be movable and concealed beneath the dial Z) and the numbers made to appear before a hole or holes in dial b. Also both sides of the case could be provided with dials and pointers. so that the game could be seen from both sides of the register. I therefore do not limit my claim to any specific arrangement of any of the Within described parts, as different modications of the same principle can be made, some of which I have pointed out. But

Ihat I do claim is- The use of numbers instead of balls or technically called points so arranged and Worked by mechanism, that any number of points made by the player may be readily marked on the number itself and the amountof the thus successively marked points is made to be shown by a register, the Whole arranged and operated by mechanism substantially the same as herein described.

HENRY J. BEHRENS.

Witnesses:

JOHN E. NEILL, WILLIAM H. HonsTMANN. 

